1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to printers and, more particularly, to low paper sensor mechanisms for printers.
2. Description of the Background
Presently, there are several different types of printers available. However, all printers share common components, such as a print head, a platen, a paper supply and a control mechanism. The control mechanism controls a motion of the print head relative to the paper supply, selects a character to be printed, and advances the paper supply, as necessary.
Regardless of the type of printer used, it is generally undesirable to operate a printer without paper. For example, ink-based printers that are operated without paper will transfer ink into the platen, which may, in turn, stain a back side of subsequent sheets of paper and may also damage print writes within the print head. Also, thermal printers that are operated without paper may overheat, since the paper is also used to absorb heat generated by the print head during printing operations. In addition, operating thermal printers without paper may cause excessive wear to the print head, since the print head would be running directly on the platen, instead of on the paper.
Therefore, in order to avoid operating the printers without paper, conventional printers have been provided with low-paper sensing and warning systems. Low paper sensing has recently become an important requirement, as retailers move towards system management, which requires system notification that a paper supply is near completion. Further, as printers are at times wall mounted, and at other times table mounted, printer having a low paper sensor mechanism which operates whether the printer is in a wall mounted orientation or in a table mounted configuration would be well received in the art.